Hello all. First off, I want to apologize for the unexpected and prolonged site downtime over the last week. Server security problems with the Web host resulted in the deletion of many user accounts, and then there was an inexplicable delay in getting my account access restored. Needless to say, I am quite upset with the host and I would be more than happy to post their address so you could send along any of your own complaints, except that would just further saturate their support lines. The good news for now, though, is that Forfeit Island will be returning to normal operation in the next few days, as soon as I have a chance to tweak all the CGI scripts to match the new server layout.

The bad news, though, is that I did not have a backup of the Forfeit Island Forum data files, so all of the accounts and messages are gone forever. (As I said, I am quite upset with the host.) I do plan to reinstall the forums, although that will likely follow a day or two after the rest of the site returns. You will have to re-create your user accounts, and again, I am deeply sorry. Things will be as they were soon enough.

Thank you for your continued support through all the downtime and difficulties lately. I hope to see you at the forum again soon.

Artwork, screenshots, and Atlus' press release on Lufia: The Ruins of Lore are now available here at Forfeit Island. Be sure to at least check out the screenshots, which are presented in a new thumbnail gallery layout.

The main pages for each of the other three Lufia games have been redesigned to be more useful and to streamline things a bit. You can now access game data and subsections by clicking on the game's title in the left menu.

In case you haven't already, be sure to stop by Forfeit Island Forum to discuss Lufia or any other topic. Special thanks to all the forumgoers who have been providing input.

Hello all. I'll waste no time getting to the big news of the day: Lufia Gaiden is coming to the U.S. The game is being localized by Atlus, developer of the Persona series and cult hit RPGs like Thousand Arms and Kartia, and is scheduled to appear for Gameboy Advance as Lufia: Ruins of Lore sometime this spring. Read the official press release here, then visit Atlus' Website. Expect coverage of the game here at Forfeit Island sometime in the next few weeks.

In site news, the brand new Forfeit Island Forum is up and running. Head over and register to discuss Lufia: Ruins of Lore and anything else Lufia-related. I'll also be handling new fan contributions through the forums, so be sure to check back to keep up with the work of fellow Lufia fans.

All right, the site's sections are back up and everything should be running normally. Be sure to let me know if you find broken links or anything else out of the ordinary.

I'm planning on various site renovations, including Lufia Gaiden coverage, a CGI overhaul of the side menu, and, if I get around to it, a message board. Only time will tell when and if these additions come about.

As a side note, I'm looking to purchase a copy of the Lufia & the Fortress of Doom strategy guide. If anyone has a copy they wouldn't mind parting with, please contact me so we can discuss.

That's it for now. Thank you to all who've emailed regarding the site's return. Be sure to spread the word to all the Lufia fans you know: Forfeit Island is once again open for business.

Hello again, everyone. Welcome to the new home of Forfeit Island. After the close of Weyland-Yutani Internet Services we've finally managed to locate some new Webspace and plan to have the site up and running again within the week. We're going to make some effort to streamline the site a bit via CGI, so please bear with any delays. They will be brief, I promise.

For those of you with fan submissions, we will still gladly accept and post whatever work you have to contribute. However, Forfeit Island will be placing less emphasis on its news coverage and concentrate more on being an information resource for all the Lufia fans on the net. We will try to add all the media on the new Lufia Gaiden game for Game Boy Advance (which was already released in Japan, if you haven't heard), but for breaking news you may be better off looking at devoted gaming news sites.

That's all there is to say for now. Expect Forfeit Island to make its reappearance soon!

Hello again, everyone. I know it's not in the best form to return suddently to updating the site with unfortunate news like this, but I wanted to let you all know what's going on.

On or before July 15, 2002, Weyland-Yutani Internet Services, Forfeit Island's host, will be closing down. After years of providing unbeatable Web service and generosity, owner and fellow Lufia fan _Cyan_ is moving on towards other projects. I (as well as many visitors to the site, I'm sure) am grateful to him for giving some guy with a bunch of Lufia MIDIs a chance to be seen on the Web, as well as for providing countless hours of assistance in guiding Forfeit Island through its developing stages to where it is today.

With the news of Weyland-Yutani's closing, some of you may be expecting an announcement regarding Forfeit Island's new address. Unfortunately, the only announcement is that there is no new address. I have no alternate hosts to turn to. I've been looking into space for other Web projects I'm involved with and I would consider re-posting Forfeit Island if I ever found any, but so far I have had no success. If I do end up putting the site up elsewhere, it will be mainly as an archive and not a news page. (Unless I find a new Webmaster, but that's another issue altogether.)

As for site updates over the last six or seven months, I have to say I'm very sorry that there have been none. I never intended Forfeit Island to be a news site, so I apologize for being late with so many stories. (I haven't posted even one article on the upcoming Lufia Gaiden for Game Boy Advance -- you may want to check with your favorite gaming news site if you haven't heard of that by now.) Also, I'm sorry for neglecting to post some of the great fan artwork and stories I've received from you. I was away at school since September and found that I had little time to devote to maintaining the site, even for fan contributions. (Your files may not even have reached me if sent to my malfunctioning Weyland-Yutani email address -- you may want to try re-sending them to my alternate address.) There's a possibility if I did find alternate hosting that I'd put up whatever submissions I've received as part of a final update, just because I want to make sure everyone gets the recognition they deserve.

The last four years have been full of unique experiences, to say the least. From being one of the first to break the news of a new Lufia game to all the interaction with numerous Lufia fans, bringing this resource to a community where Lufia Websites are few and far between has really been an unexpected privilege. To all of you who've visited, e-mailed, or contributed, thank you.

All right, let's see here. I've got a couple of things to clear up before unleashing all the new art upon you. First, in my hurry to correct the last update with the changed Lufia: The Legend Returns release date, I mistakenly removed any explicit mention that I was leaving for a while. So, that's part of why email replies have been delayed. The other thing, and the other reason why email has been slow to return, in fact, is that my Weyland-Yutani address got stopped up again at the beginning of August or so. But! I've replied to everyone's mail, and everything else should be working again now. Now, on with what's new.

Probably of most interest is that The Legends Returns may be showing up a few weeks late, surprise, surprise. The delays are turning into a bit of a bad joke at this point, but if you can still stomach it, check out the Legend Returns news section.

OK, on with the art. Two new artists make their site debut today: Otakon, with two Dekar illustrations in Lufia II art, and myu, with works spanning the Lufia I,
Lufia II, and Ruins Chaser art sections. You can also visit myu's Website, Lufia's Egg, for more art and Lufia information, although most of the site is in Japanese. In addition to those, Haruki Kurokawa shows up again with a picture depicting the blue-haired heroines from Lufia I, II and The Legend Returns. Also, while you're looking at Legend Returns art, you can check out the complete world map for the upcoming GBC sequel, as well as three sizes of an advertisement appearing in magazines. You'll have to pick at least the medium size if you want to be able to read the text easily.

I'm not making any more comments about The Legend Returns' release just in case I've been putting a jinx on it all along. As usual, keep those fan submissions coming, and with luck we'll all be playing the next Lufia game in a couple of weeks. (Oops, I mentioned it anyway. I guess now we'll have to wait until December.)

Greetings again. Well, you may have caught the earlier edition of tonight's update which was awash in anticipation for Lufia: The Legend Returns. However, after taking a quick look at The GIA, I discovered that the update was a bit premature. Check the news for more info.

In the meantime, there are a few sites you can check out. Past art contributor Haruki Kurokawa's Lufia site is back online, and it links to the official Japanese Legend of Estpolis site located on Taito's site. Apparently Taito has picked up publishing rights in Japan, although at this time it's not confirmed who will be the European publisher. Taito's site is the source of the recent batch of Japanese dialogue screens. In addition, it contains a complete map of the new Lufia world, showing the four previously-seen continents in their positions relative to each other. This map and several other graphics will appear here when I return, but if you can't wait, go check out Taito's page. Haruki Kurokawa's Estpolis page is located here.

One last note: my email has not been receiving for a short while now, so if you mailed something to my Weyland-Yutani address, I may not have received it. I'll try to have this resolved when I get back. See you all in a few weeks.

With about a month to go until the North American release of Lufia: the Legend Returns, Natsume has released an impressive 35 screens of the Japanese version to assure the series' fans overseas aren't feeling totally forgotten. The screens seem to contain several conversations between characters, so anyone with some knowledge of Japanese may be able to decipher some of the game's plot. (Please don't ask us what they're saying, however.)

Along with the screens come four continent maps of the presumably new area of the Lufia world to be featured in Legend Returns. Each continent boasts one of the towers seen in earlier screens. Finally, designs for four previously-unseen characters are here, along with new art of Wein and Seena, and some new art which may be the box for the Japanese edition, Legend of Estpolis.

That's all Natsume has to offer for the moment, but it doesn't mean the fans don't have anything to show. Birgit Prodinger sends her fourth piece of artwork, a depiction of the Sinistral Erim. And, site newcomer Kitt makes her debut with her series of pictures featuring Dekar and Lexis as children. These three pictures are located in the Lufia II art section.

Thanks go to the Gaming Intelligence Agency for the new screenshots and character designs. Also, you may wish to take a look at their updated Legend Returns preview for additional battle system and Ancient Cave information.

Yes, you're looking at it -- the new Forfeit Island is here. FI2 features an entirely new look and, by popular demand, the elimination of frames. In place of the left-former hand frame is an inline menu which appears on every page, through which you can access any section of the site. As you probably noticed on your way here, the front page now displays the top headlines of the day, as well as a handful of older news items you may have missed. And, in case something about the site has you confused, a list of frequently-asked questions is located under Site Info.

In the individual game sections, the MIDI and digital module sections have been integrated into single music pages. Lufia: Ruins Chaser information has been separated from the Legends Returns materials and now has its own section, under Other Games. Finally, in what should be a welcome addition to all the visitors who have stiff index fingers from clicking on every MIDI or icon link, ZIP files are now available in those sections.

Unfortunately, several planned sections proved too ambitious to make the launch deadline, the first being a revival of the old message board. This probably will not be coming back due to CGI issues, and we're sorry about that. Another project Alpaca and I were in way over our heads with was a Macromedia Flash casino featuring Action Bingo. That idea was scrapped when we discovered that neither of us could program in Flash. Of course, if a kindly, Flash-knowledgable Lufia fan would be interested in helpings us put something like that together, we'd much appreciate it. Otherwise, there probably isn't much hope for that. But, oh well, you probably didn't want to get cooped up here all day playing Action Bingo, anyway.

...And there you have it. New site, same old reliability that (we hope) you've come to appreciate. And, with a new Lufia game on the horizon (although the horizon may be a bit farther away than you anticipate, if you haven't read the latest developments), expect things around here to heat up in the coming weeks.

That's it for now. Thanks for continuing to visit, and we hope to hear your comments on the redesign. Oh, and please be kind about broken links. I am sure there must be at least one or two.